ART MATTERS
My artwork celebrates the light in the world around us. My artwork celebrates you.
Pink flamingo's are not pink naturally. This was news to me until very recently during a conversation with an old boss of mine who had travelled to Kenya in an area that had flocks of wild flamingo's. Apparently the flamingo's environment and what they eat (including algae and small crustaceans), over time changes their white to grey feathers into everything from a pinky, orange to a deep red and on an extremely rare occasion even black. Wouldn't I love to see a black flamingo!! Learning this, put flamingo's higher on my radar these past few years. I had never had any urge to paint them and suddenly their outlines and reflections seem to start appearing on my canvas and I simply saw them everywhere I turned. Something about them being a product of their environment in a good way, struck a cord with me. After all, who wouldn't love pink feathers?
I've recently discovered audio books. Yes, I know they have been around for sometime now but I've been slow on the uptake. You see I love my paper books. I love a good library of them too. The kind of library where books exist on shelves up to the ceiling and reading lights, coffee and comfy chairs are plentiful. The problem is that I have not read a great deal since coming to Australia. Time has sped up and slipped away and the hours I used to spend, absorbed in the pages of a great book, just can't be found. So audio books have taken up a place on my phone. I can plug in and listen whenever I have time and I get notifications on newly published gems on a daily basis. And so I've listened to more books than I've read in the past 5 years. One of those books, I have yet to finish. I hit play on "A Course in Miracles" by Dr. Helen Schucman almost 2 years ago now. This book is a bit of a marathon and I still have over 14 hours of it left to go. It contains a lifetime of work that I need to do on my personal growth and so the going has been a bit of a journey. Do you know that everyone has greatness in them? True greatness. There is greatness in you. That top of the mountain, light shining down on you, awesome kind of greatness. It is in you. On top of that, it is a word that applies to everyone; you, me, your neighbour, your friend, the delivery guy, the grocer, the nurse, the doctor, and yes, even the politician. The important part to understand though is that there is greatness in you. I heard this for the first time in a training session I attended as an emerging leader at Colt Engineering many years ago. Lou Tice's words, "There is greatness in you", sprung from the page and struck me in my heart. "Really?" I thought. I stared at the words 'you' and 'greatness' written together on the page and lost track of what was being said in the class. I shook my head to return to the discussion and waited to later that night to stare at the words again, in wonder. Those words, "There is greatness in you", started a glimmer of an awareness that lit up my soul.
Art Matters I see you. I hear you. I know you. You are me. I am you. We exist as one. We matter. You matter. I matter. Art Matters. - Cory Acorn I think we can all agree that everyone matters (at least those of you who I'm interested in chatting to here in my new blog realise this - welcome by the way !) but do you really feel that you matter? In your heart of hearts do you feel, believe you matter? I know for me, I have struggled with this belief. It is so easy to put myself outside of the circle that says, you matter. When I am at my lowest, I turn to a few leaders that I respect and trust for their wisdom and guidance. In doing so, I can usually dig myself out of my dark place and come back to the fact that yes, I matter. After all, if I can say I truly believe that everyone matters, then I must also matter, right? And what does this all have to do with art and painting then?
|
AuthorCory Acorn is a professional artist celebrating the world of art and wonder. ArchivesCategories |